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Independent AfricaCough syrup not yet confirmed as cause of child deaths in Gambia

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Cough syrup not yet confirmed as cause of child deaths in Gambia

Gambia has not yet confirmed that toxic cough syrup was the cause of the deaths of 70 children from acute kidney injury, a representative of the country’s Medicines Control Agency said this Monday.

The small West African state has been investigating a mysterious slew of child deaths in recent months, which police said in a preliminary investigation was linked to four cough syrups made in India.

World Health Organisation investigators have found “unacceptable” levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol in the products, which were made by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

But Gambia’s Medicines Control Agency, a national regulatory body, has not yet pinpointed the exact cause of the deaths, said Tijan Jallow, an officer at the agency.

“We haven’t concluded yet it is the medicine that caused it. A good number of kids died without taking any medications,” Jallow told a news conference.

“Other kids died, the medication that they took, we have tested them and they are good,” he added.

The agency is trying to establish exactly which medications if any, each child took.

 

Source: Reuters

 

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